thumbs up

You too, bud.

Well said, well said. o//

o7

Thank you!

Anytime. <3

You are the best!

Preach it, Blitzy!

#DemocraticPartyForever

#FeelTheBernIn2020

Preach I shall.

And I will help you... by being sexy and stronk!

That's much appreciated, Ovami. :D

My university posted the following statement about the attack:

"This brutal terrorist attack in New Zealand which left 49 people dead did not take place in a vacuum - it is part of a global onslaught of Islamophobia that has today manifested in a way that is horrible but not surprising. Nothing about decades-long racialisation, demonisation and othering should come as a surprise to anyone. It is impossible to distinguish the manifesto of the terrorist from comments made by politicians the world over. The rhetoric that they use to get votes, to stir up their base, to radicalise and indoctrinate non-Muslims has tangible consequences for Muslims and people racialised as Muslim everywhere. Words matter - whether it’s in the form of demonising refugees and migrants, the tabloids that peddle Islamophobic drivel, or comments made around a dinner table. It’s this same rhetoric that harms black and brown bodies in immeasurable ways.

This was a targeted terrorist attack against a marginalised community and it’s well passed time that we call out anti-Muslim, racist comments made by our families, friends and politicians. We are complicit in this if we do not actively take steps to dismantle the white supremacist, Islamophobic structures that facilitated this attack. White nationalism is terrorism and there should be no ambiguity about that.

I hope that one day our fellow Muslim students can feel safe in your own skin, in your own clothes, in your own places of worship."

I'm really fed-up with this idea that "free speech" should actually mean giving an unrestricted platform to people with hateful views. And there's nothing these various mass shooters do that bigoted politicians haven't been doing for years. In North America, Europe, Oceania, and beyond, there's a longstanding history of Muslims in particular being targeted as not only different, but hostile and incompatible with the societies into which they immigrate.

When we live in societies where an extreme, outspoken subset is constantly shrieking about how Muslims are terrorists, hostile to our society, and a threat to our values. They go on and on about how this is an oppressive religion that fosters violence and holds women in subjugation. And then when some nut takes them at their word and goes on a killing spree, the same people who have been adding fuel to the fire simply say "whoa whoa whoa, we never said to KILL them!" and then go straight back to propagating the same vile, incendiary narratives that, frankly, should be treated as a criminal action in the same way as shouting fire in a crowded theatre.

Hate speech is at odds with free speech. And all those "anti-SJW" YouTubers who have promoted anti-Muslim rhetoric are complicit in this. Needless to say I will call it out wherever I see it.

I'm glad that statement was posted at your uni. American universities have gotten too chickenshit, especially the ones with GOP-appointed boards of regents.

My university is actually in London! But honestly I think the message is just as important, perhaps moreso in certain ways in the UK. In the US, while there are large Muslim communities throughout the nation, in the UK, Muslims are a much more common and also a much more visible minority. Although I caution not to take London as a reflection of the entire UK, at the same time, I literally don't go a single day here without seeing at least one woman wearing the hijab or another similar garment.

There's a really strong undercurrent of anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK and it's not uncommon to hear otherwise-liberal people express bigoted and ignorant sentiments about Islam.

Yeah, I knew you were in the UK, hence why I specifically mentioned American unis being chickenshit. I also know the climate for Muslims in the UK hasn't been much better.

Whether you lean left or right, and whether you're talking about white Christians or minorities, "You people need to get out of my country" is a very ugly sentiment.

I just look at it this way: Conservatives constantly feel attacked by mass media that depicts white Christian conservatives as terrible people. They see characters that represent them being torn down while women, the LGBT community and minorities get to rise up. So they retreat to Fox News, which pats them on the head and tells them that they're good people and leftists are psychotic idiots; they become more and more isolated from society, and get more insular and weird; their thoughts become more tinged with hatred as they feel society has turned on them.

Reach out with love, hun. Focus on ways you connect with people, instead of shunning them for their differences. Maybe they wouldn't be so hateful if their only friends weren't just other hate-filled people.

Too many of us have been beaten or killed for "reaching out with love." American media has bent over backwards trying to empathize with the alt-right and Trump voters, while giving bigger and bigger platforms to transphobes, Islamophobes, and other such bigots.

You yourself might not be a hateful person, but you seem to have no qualms enabling hate speech by tone policing and scolding anyone who tries to stop it. Also, your "shunning them will only make them more hateful" thing isn't true. Ask any former Nazi some of the reasons they chose to leave, and losing their friends and family is often near the top.

The far-right deserves no platform, no mercy, and very little sympathy. Anyone who tries to lecture us on civility and being a pacifist in the face of people who want us dead is immediately suspect in my eyes. Perhaps you don't want to see the US, UK, EU, etc descend into fascism. If that's the case, kindly step aside and let the people who see the threat for what it is take care of it.

I'm just saying that this journal is basically the liberal equivalent of those obnoxious "America: Love It or Leave It" bumper stickers. Have those ever convinced you to leave the country? No, they just make you angrier, and you feel more justified in your belief that people on the other side are intolerant pricks.

I'm pretty left-leaning myself, but it's just exhausting seeing everyone flinging hatred at each other: they hate minorities, so you hate them, and nothing gets accomplished aside from the battle lines getting drawn more clearly.

Wouldn't it be better to extol the virtues of Muslims and try to show that they're good people instead of just dumping another steaming barrel of hatred on the internet?

They can never be convinced. Plus, I can't speak for an entire religious community.

Sometimes, there are people in this world who cannot be reasoned with. Sometimes, fighting is the only option. I'm no more eager to do it than anyone else, but if pressed I sure as heck will rise to it.

I think your best bet now is to stop with the "both sides" BS. That's a false equivalence. One "side" has a sizable body count here. White supremacists and Islamophobes have murdered hundreds since the 2016 elections, and their numbers have ballooned in that same amount of time.

Hell, I have a really detailed timeline of white supremacists committing mass shootings over on Sofurry if you'd like a link.

Nah, that's all right. I'll be quiet now. Sorry for the trouble. I'm supposed to just draw porn, not make political statements. ^_^;

Alrighty. No trouble at all! Glad you were interested in talking. ^.=.^